More than 20 opponents of building high-rise blocks in the central park of Severodvinsk recorded a video appeal to the local police. They complained that those watched closely whether the activists observed the mask mandate outside, but let local officials violate it. The authors of the video urged Oleg Shutov, the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Severodvinsk, to keep one law for everyone. Activist Sergei Ilyukhin published their appeal on vk.com.
The video says that people have become less trusting of the police because they put pressure on the activists, and a weekly gathering of the opponents of the park’s development is the only event in the town closely monitored by law enforcement.
The activists stressed that there were no aggressive football fans among those who came to the park every Sunday, they did not have any posters and loudspeakers, they did not call for the subversion of state power. Police officers also come to the park and, according to the authors of the video, look out for people without masks. Activists Sergei Ilyukhin and Maria Kreitor have already been fined for not wearing them.
This outraged the townspeople. They noted that officials of the administration of Severodvinsk and local deputies attended official events without masks, but bore no responsibility for this. The activists believe that the authorities feel they are "above the law" and post photos of themselves without personal protective equipment on official resources.
"The way the police consistently ignore some and cautiously watch others violate suggests that the law is not the same for everyone in Severodvinsk. It is time to test your professional integrity. Townspeople are waiting for justice from those whose duty is to protect the law," the activists said in their appeal.
The authorities of Severodvinsk gave the central town park to developers without the consent of local residents. The Akvilon-Invest Severodvinsk Company plans to build a large comfort class residential complex there. The residents were promised a recreational zone instead of the park on this site. The activists hold weekly meetings in the park. They appealed to the Governor of Arkhangelsk Oblast Alexander Tsybulsky and the prosecutor's office, invited deputies of the regional duma and the municipal council of Severodvinsk, and tried to hold a referendum. In March, the developer fenced the park to prepare the site for development.
In December 2020, the court fined activist Sergei Ilyukhin for video appeals to the governor and the president twice. On March 9, the police detained two participants of the rally, Maria Kreitor and Oleg Mandrykin. Reports were drawn up against them under Article 20.2.2 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation on arranging a mass event that caused a disturbance of public peace. The court remanded the cases back to the police. The judge fined Kreitor for 10 thousand rubles at the second attempt on March 16.
